Southern Airways Flight 242: Severe Weather

Southern Airways Flight 242

Synopsis

On 4th April 1977, Southern Airways Flight 242, a DC-9 aircraft, was flying from Alabama to Atlanta via Huntsville, when the flight entered severe thunderstorm, losing both engines in the process. The captain attempted an emergency landing on a highway and crash landed, killing 63 out of the 85 people on board.

In this accident, the pilots, without provision and dissemination of up to date severe weather information from company dispatch and air traffic control, relied sorely on their airborne weather radar which they interpreted wrongly due system limitations and penetrated the severe weather. Once in the thunderstorm cell, the aircraft was subjected to massive rain and hailstorms which damaged the engines, causing them to fail, resulting in a loss of thrust and subsequent crash landing.

Videos

Part 1 of 5

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Part 2 of 5

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Part 3 of 5

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Part 4 of 5

(Video embedded from YouTube on 22 Sep 2009)

Part 5 of 5

(Video embedded from YouTube on 22 Sep 2009)

Want to know more?

Wikipedia – Southern Airways Flight 242
This page in Wikipedia offers more detailed information about the occurrence.
Aircraft Accident Report – Southern Airways Flight 242
This page provides a comprehensive analysis on the accident, inclusive of the causal factors and recommendations to prevent this from occurring again.

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